It was long before we came to
realize that in the depths of our steamships were those who fed the fires
with their lives, and that our mines from which we dug our wealth were the
graves of those who had died to the free light and air, without finding
the rest of death. We did not see that the machines for saving labor were
monsters that devoured women and children, and wasted men at the bidding
of the power which no man must touch.
"That is, we thought we must not touch it, for it called itself prosperity
and wealth and the public good, and it said that it gave bread, and it
impudently bade the toiling myriads consider what would become of them if
it took away their means of wearing themselves out in its service. It
demanded of the state absolute immunity and absolute impunity, the right
to do its will wherever and however it would, without question from the
people who were the final law. It had its way, and under its rule we
became the richest people under the sun. The Accumulation, as we called
this power, because we feared to call it by its true name, rewarded its
own with gains of twenty, of a hundred, of a thousand per cent.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252